Is Lockheed's Stealthy Spy Plane the Future of Reconnaissance?

The Air Force needs to upgrade its fleet of spy planes. Capable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft have become more important than ever as missile defense systems in countries like China and Russia continue to improve. The planes we have now, like Lockheed's iconic piloted U-2 and Northrup Grumman's unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, can no longer operate as close to hostile borders as they used to.

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Lockheed's Skunk Works hopes its new unmanned design, currently called the TR-X project, will prove a capable replacement for both the U-2—which the Air Force plans to retire in 2019—and the Global Hawk. The aerospace contractor is planning to make a high-flying, hard-to-see drone that can carry the contents of the U-2's nose (a variety of high-tech radar and imaging systems). Thus, the TR-X combines the U-2's high-flying abilities—the new aircraft would use the same GE F118 engine as the U-2, allowing it to fly at 70,000 feet—with the unmanned advantages of the Global Hawk.

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This would fill an immediate need for ISR capabilities that could then be upgraded down the road. Some portion of the TR-X fleet—which Lockheed imagines being about 30 aircraft and costing $3.8 billion—could be upgraded to a fully stealth aircraft with a new angular shape and radar-absorbing skin, according to Aviation Week.

However, the TR-X is not the only spy aircraft the Air Force is considering. Northrop has a secretive program to develop the RQ-180, a likely successor to the Global Hawk, and Lockheed is also developing the hypersonic SR-72 as a successor to the classic SR-71 Blackbird that was retired in 1998.

It may be that the U.S. needs both the SR-72 and something like the TR-X for differing roles. With stealth capabilities and an ability to cruise at 70,000 feet for at least 24 hours, the TR-X could become a constant eye in the sky. The SR-72, with a planned operating speed of Mach 6, could then perform high-speed flybys to gather detailed intelligence from a specific area of particular interest.

We don't know yet which programs the Air Force will fund. It is already bogged down with costs from aircraft like the F-35, the new KC-46 tanker, and the B-21 strategic bomber. Lockheed is optimistic that the TR-X will prove relevant because of growing needs for ISR capabilities, however, and they plan to offer the program as part of an official competition for a military contract in the next year or two. Assuming the Air Force decides to fund the new high-flying drone, Lockheed projects a fleet of 30 TR-Xs could be ready for service in seven years.